Friday, March 18, 2011

Berthe Morisot

Amazon is one of my biggest weaknesses. Their reviews easily persuade me, and make me continue my research on so many different items. It's great, yes, but it can get me into a lot of trouble! I do have to say that I was so very excited to come across the book Discovering Great Artists-Hands on Art for Children in the Styles of the Great Masters by MaryAnn Kohl. Each artist is introduced in a short snippet, and then there's a simple hands on activity to mimic the style of that specific artist.

Today our artist was Berthe Morisot back from the 1800's. The girls learned about how it wasn't common for women to be professional artists, yet she was encouraged by her parents to pursue her dream. I didn't know this, but she sold more paintings than Monet or Renoir. Her work was known to use globs of paint, thick brush strokes, and bright colors.

We took six different bowls and filled them with a different texture in each: fine glitter, chunky glitter, flour, sugar, crushed eggshells, and white glue. We then poured one color into each bowl, mixed the texture and paint color together well, and we instantly had thick textured paint. The girls had a blast. Symphony knew exactly what she wanted to paint, completed it, made a second painting, and she was done. Bella on the other hand L.O.V.E.D. painting with the textured paint. She sat here after taking her shower (bad move on my end), filled her page completely and thick full of paint, along with my table, mouse for my MAC, her hands completely and her little arms. She had gobs of dried up texture on her, but she had a blast!

These are moments when I am so very happy that I get to teach my babies on my own. Experiencing them learning new things, to see their expressions first hand, hearing them hum and sing about how much fun this is and how this is their "favorite" thing to do makes being a "teacher" one of the best unpaid and rewarding jobs!